William Ruto, Kenya’s vice president and presidential candidate under the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party, addresses a campaign rally ahead of the upcoming elections in the Karen ward of Nairobi, Kenya on January 18 2022. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

NAIROBI, March 15 (Reuters) – Vice President William Ruto on Tuesday used his new party’s nomination to run for Kenya’s presidency in August’s election to castigate President Uhuru Kenyatta for his economic policies and credentials democratic.

Kenyatta, who is due to step down after serving the maximum of two five-year terms, says Ruto is untrustworthy and less experienced than veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga. Read more

Ruto will run against Odinga, who has Kenyatta’s backing, in the election.

Ruto attacked Kenyatta’s record in front of five thousand cheering delegates dressed in the green and yellow colors of his new United Democratic Alliance party in a Nairobi auditorium.

“Debt must be the last resort. We must not be slaves to the debt of any place or any country,” he told the rally.

Kenyatta’s government has increased public debt by 7 trillion shillings ($61.32 billion) from nearly 2 trillion shillings since taking office in 2013.

The loans – which include billions of dollars from China – are pushing against the national debt ceiling.

Ruto also accused Kenyatta of failing to deliver on his 2017 election promises and of using state institutions to persecute political opponents.

Kenyatta has in the past defended his policies, saying he wanted to entrench the rule of law and spur economic growth by building roads, railways and other infrastructure, partly financed by borrowing.

He also said he embraced the opposition to promote national unity. His spokeswoman, Kanze Dena, declined to comment on Ruto’s remarks on Tuesday.

FEARS OF ETHNIC CONFLICT

Some Kenyans worry about divisions between the two men as elections have sparked violence at times – notably in 2007, when Odinga’s supporters said his victory was stolen and clashes between ethnic groups erupted.

Ruto sought to allay fears by promising to accept the election results in August.

Kenya is East Africa’s wealthiest and most stable nation and a close Western ally that hosts the regional headquarters of international companies like Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) and Visa (VN).

Ruto, who served as a lawmaker and agriculture minister before becoming vice president, is seeking to break traditional patterns of ethnic voting by portraying the August elections as a contest of poor ‘hustlers’ against wealthy political ‘dynasties’ . “If we take care of the bottom, we take care of everyone,” he told his party’s assembly of delegates.

Ruto says he started his career as a roadside chicken vendor, a stark contrast to Kenyatta and Odinga – the sons of the country’s first president and vice president respectively – and pledges to transfer funding government from major infrastructure projects to small businesses.

Critics point to corruption allegations against Ruto – none of which have ever been proven in court – and a case against him at the International Criminal Court in The Hague for allegedly orchestrating violence following the disputed 2007 election.

The case later fell apart; a Kenyan lawyer is currently on trial at the ICC accused of bribing prosecution witnesses against Ruto, which the lawyer denies.

Kenyatta, Odinga and Ruto come from three of Kenya’s four major ethnic groups. Kenyatta’s Kikuyu group, the most populous in the country, has produced three of the four presidents since independence from Britain in 1963.

($1 = 114.1500 Kenyan shillings)

Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Katharine Houreld, Raissa Kasolowsky and Mark Heinrich

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